CQC2T CI Prof Michael Bremner (UTS) links with Google, NASA, UCSB on Nature Physics paper to try to define when quantum computers will overtake classical computers. The researchers said that quantum computers would need almost 50 qubits to process information exponentially faster than a classical supercomputer.

UTS said the first research marks the first clear attempt to identify a benchmark at which quantum computing will surpass the capability of classical computers - which is known as quantum supremacy.
Chief investigator of the UTS branch of the ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, Professor Michael Bremner, said the line was difficult to define because the advantages offered by quantum computers can be subtle.

“Some applications can have an exponential quantum speed-up over classical computers, while others receive no benefit at all,” he said.
“Understanding when quantum computers become useful is essential, especially when we are limited to using the noisy intermediate-scale devices that currently exist.

“We attempted to find the frontier between classical and quantum computing. We wanted to find the smallest quantum circuits that can do something that cannot be done at all on a classical computer.”